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But even in range extender mode, the battery is always active and always used, although some of the range extender power is transmitted directly to the wheels bypassing the battery. Still, maybe a 20% reduction on the battery usage overally

Not really. If the generator is supplying electricity and the motor is consuming it then the battery is neither being charged nor drained.
 
Fair enough. Still 100k on a battery with no discernible amount of degradation. GM probably did the best job of protecting the battery of anybody, IMHO. Arguably, they were too conservative in not allowing the car/user access as much SOC range as they might should have.
 
Fair enough. Still 100k on a battery with no discernible amount of degradation. GM probably did the best job of protecting the battery of anybody, IMHO. Arguably, they were too conservative in not allowing the car/user access as much SOC range as they might should have.

This is something not everyone understands about the SOC of the Volt. It's not purely for battery life. It will operate outside the SOC window: When the battery is depleted, it will go below the lower end of the SOC to maintain full acceleration. The gas engine is weaker than the electric and can only hit 75kW of output. When you floor it, even though it says it's on pure ICE, it uses up to 45kW to achieve 120kW output for passing. And when the battery is "full", there is enough headspace to absorb 60kW max regen for short periods.

If the SOC window was larger, neither could happen. It operates in that buffer as needed.

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When battery degradation in a volt finally shows up, it will already be degraded under 60% of nominal capacity.

Technically, it's 18.4 kWh with a 4.4 kWh buffer, for 14.0 kWh usable today for the 2016 and 2017. However, like above, that buffer is not a Dead Zone. It is used to create a better engineered product, totally invisible to the driver.
 
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But even in range extender mode, the battery is always active and always used, although some of the range extender power is transmitted directly to the wheels bypassing the battery. Still, maybe a 20% reduction on the battery usage overall.

You mean the battery is active in hybrid mode?

I thought hybrid mode meant no regenerative breaking and exclusive use of gasoline through the ICE directly to power the wheels.

Shocking.
 
Is there a "1/3" rule of thumb developing on the Volt that I should tell my friends that are thinking of buying one?

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I feel so spoiled. :)

No, no 1/3 rule. Some of the higher mileage Volts will be higher percentage on gas. That's how they got to be high mileage. However, the majority of Volt drivers typically achieve > 90% electric I'm pretty sure. Check voltstats.net to get an idea. Mine is one of the lowest in EV%. I think I'm in like the bottom 5%.

@RobStark -- are you serious about thinking hybrid mode would have no regenerative braking? If it didn't have regenerative braking, it wouldn't be a hybrid mode. When the battery is depleted, it operates much like any other hybrid on the road -- battery is generally kept within a certain range with the car powered by a blend of gasoline engine and regenerative braking.
 
You mean the battery is active in hybrid mode?

I thought hybrid mode meant no regenerative breaking and exclusive use of gasoline through the ICE directly to power the wheels.

Shocking.

Apologies if you weren't being serious, my sarcasm meter is on the blink...

The battery is active in hybrid mode. Technically it's a "charge sustaining" mode - once the battery is "empty" the car attempts to retain the battery SOC at around a 15% level, but will dip into it to meet short-duration power demands rather than revving the ICE. You can pull away from a light without the engine starting, and then after a few seconds it powers up the ICE to replace what you've just taken out of the battery. And regen works fine in CS mode - regen down a big hill and it'll cruise around on battery until the SOC drops below the threshold.

What IS annoying is that on the 2011-2015 model there are two ICE modes - one where the ICE speed has no direct connection to the wheels and no relation to road speed that is used for low power demands, and one where one of the electric motors is clutched to allow the ICE to directly drive the wheels, and the ICE speed does have relation to road speed - used when power demands are higher. Unfortunately it takes about 2 seconds for it to switch modes and during that time the accelerator pedal feels "dead". The 2016+ transmission operates differently and doesn't have the lag. Oh, and the battery is too small, the "normal" throttle mapping is incredibly "soft", I still have to put gas in it, and it honks the horn all the time if you look at it sideways...

Is the %)($*% Model III shipping yet? Yeesh...
 
Apologies if you weren't being serious, my sarcasm meter is on the blink...

The battery is active in hybrid mode. Technically it's a "charge sustaining" mode - once the battery is "empty" the car attempts to retain the battery SOC at around a 15% level, but will dip into it to meet short-duration power demands rather than revving the ICE. You can pull away from a light without the engine starting, and then after a few seconds it powers up the ICE to replace what you've just taken out of the battery. And regen works fine in CS mode - regen down a big hill and it'll cruise around on battery until the SOC drops below the threshold.

What IS annoying is that on the 2011-2015 model there are two ICE modes - one where the ICE speed has no direct connection to the wheels and no relation to road speed that is used for low power demands, and one where one of the electric motors is clutched to allow the ICE to directly drive the wheels, and the ICE speed does have relation to road speed - used when power demands are higher. Unfortunately it takes about 2 seconds for it to switch modes and during that time the accelerator pedal feels "dead". The 2016+ transmission operates differently and doesn't have the lag. Oh, and the battery is too small, the "normal" throttle mapping is incredibly "soft", I still have to put gas in it, and it honks the horn all the time if you look at it sideways...

I particularly enjoy it when we get home all electric late at night, open the garage door, drive in, get out, plug in and our Volt honks to tell us that, once again, the car will charge as we expect it to charge. I'm very glad that the Volt programmers didn't follow the "succeed quietly, fail noisily" principle used by some idiotic programmers, because we're blind and can't count, so we can't just go by the solid or flashing green light. It's a particularly great idea to use the horn for the alert, because the horn is designed to get the attention of people and drivers around you, and we think it's important that our neighbors know that we have a Volt and that it's charging properly.

Is the %)($*% Model III shipping yet? Yeesh...

No, I'm afraid you'll have to wait until late 2017, when production will be fully ramped.

Oh, and we're now averaging about 58% EV. Depends on a lot on pattern, and of course there's probably some self-selection.
 
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Is there a "1/3" rule of thumb developing on the Volt that I should tell my friends that are thinking of buying one?

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I feel so spoiled. :)

My daughter's Volt is 88.2% EV miles per telemetry, and my son's Volt is 89.6% EV miles.

Telemetry on 1,855 Volts across the US says the median EV percentage is 76.9% EV miles as of today.


...
 
I'm very glad that the Volt programmers didn't follow the "succeed quietly, fail noisily" principle used by some idiotic programmers, because we're blind and can't count, so we can't just go by the solid or flashing green light.
Sigh. Don't blame the programmers for such things.

Also, the principle you're attacking is actually a decent default behavior -- perhaps with a setting to better support vision and counting impaired.

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My daughter's Volt is 88.2% EV miles per telemetry, and my son's Volt is 89.6% EV miles.

Telemetry on 1,855 Volts across the US says the median EV percentage is 76.9% EV miles as of today.
Thanks for the data!
 
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No, no 1/3 rule. Some of the higher mileage Volts will be higher percentage on gas. That's how they got to be high mileage. However, the majority of Volt drivers typically achieve > 90% electric I'm pretty sure. Check voltstats.net to get an idea. Mine is one of the lowest in EV%. I think I'm in like the bottom 5%.

@RobStark -- are you serious about thinking hybrid mode would have no regenerative braking? If it didn't have regenerative braking, it wouldn't be a hybrid mode. When the battery is depleted, it operates much like any other hybrid on the road -- battery is generally kept within a certain range with the car powered by a blend of gasoline engine and regenerative braking.

Just to amplify a bit, the Volt fleet overall operates about 2/3 EV and 1/3 Hybrid range extender. There is some self selection on Voltstats, so it is a bit higher there.

When the Volt SOC gets down to 23% (which shows 0 miles to the driver) it goes into hybrid mode. At that point, it becomes a HEAVY Prius, due to the battery size - meaning it doesn't hit Prius mpg numbers. The SOC operating range of Gen I Volt is 65% of the battery from a low of 23% SOC to a high of 88% SOC.
 
Just to amplify a bit, the Volt fleet overall operates about 2/3 EV and 1/3 Hybrid range extender. There is some self selection on Voltstats, so it is a bit higher there.

When the Volt SOC gets down to 23% (which shows 0 miles to the driver) it goes into hybrid mode. At that point, it becomes a HEAVY Prius, due to the battery size - meaning it doesn't hit Prius mpg numbers. The SOC operating range of Gen I Volt is 65% of the battery from a low of 23% SOC to a high of 88% SOC.

Voltstats isn't Fuelly.com. It's pure telemetry.

Correction about the Heavy Prius. When your 53mi is up, you end up with lag-free turbocharged Prius that corners a lot better.

Yes, if you are driving only to save money, you might as well drive a Prius, whether or not it saves money is not important. Because people will THINK you're trying to save gas, which is more important than saving gas. And it will explain why you drive like grandma.

Yes, a Plug in Prius gets better highway gas mileage, but it's not much. At 70mph with the cruise control, the 2016 Volt used .66 gallons to cover 31 miles yesterday. The other 49 miles were electric, which for me is free. But the big factor is at 70mph I have full EV output power with "0 miles" on the battery.

It is funny that the Toyota advertises the Prius at a better Power To Weight Ratio than the 2016 Volt is advertised at. But the acceleration uphill at 70 mph isn't close. A 0-30mph dash is a bloodbath.
 
Voltstats isn't Fuelly.com. It's pure telemetry.

Correction about the Heavy Prius. When your 53mi is up, you end up with lag-free turbocharged Prius that corners a lot better.

Yes, if you are driving only to save money, you might as well drive a Prius, whether or not it saves money is not important. Because people will THINK you're trying to save gas, which is more important than saving gas. And it will explain why you drive like grandma.

Yes, a Plug in Prius gets better highway gas mileage, but it's not much. At 70mph with the cruise control, the 2016 Volt used .66 gallons to cover 31 miles yesterday. The other 49 miles were electric, which for me is free. But the big factor is at 70mph I have full EV output power with "0 miles" on the battery.

It is funny that the Toyota advertises the Prius at a better Power To Weight Ratio than the 2016 Volt is advertised at. But the acceleration uphill at 70 mph isn't close. A 0-30mph dash is a bloodbath.

Voltstats is telemetry - for people who OPT IN to Voltstats. The people who opt in to Voltstats have better charging/hypermiling/gas usage awareness than the "fleet average" Volt driver.

2016-2017 does a better job at being a heavy Prius than 2011-2015. You have full EV power with "0 miles" because 0 is really 23% SOC. GM made Volt, first and foremost, a no compromise serial/parallel hybrid - and did a much better job than BMW did on the North American version of the i3, IMHO.

The Volt is a kick to drive and really a huge value...especially a used Gen 1 Volt.